So this is the start of a new build diary of the TR6 which I have undertaken to restore. Perhaps restore will not be the correct term for some people, but I will strip and rebuild the car to be the car that I imagine I want it to be. it is going to be an adventure as I discover things about the car as the rebuild is tackled, and also about how I change my mind over things as the build up develops.
Why a TR6? I have always thought of the TR6 as a tough looking car, I think mainly due to the large diameter tyres, long bonnet and twin exhausts, but they seemed to have a fast look to them, and as a confirmed petrol-head from a very young age, the TR6 was on my list.
This particular car was bought quickly and without much of a search. In fact, without any kind of search, it was in truth the cheapest car on eBay at the time and the only one I went to have a look at, but I did do my research so I acted fast, paid the asking price and it was delivered 3 days later.
The car’s last owner was in Las Vegas, this is interesting as I had lived there for a few years when younger with my parents, but the owner before that was in Illinois which is very far from being a dry state, and had sold the car in 2003, so the chances are that this car was not in dry states for the first 31 years of it’s 44 year life (to date). I will try to track down as much history as I can from these two people.
So here is the car, as it arrived on the 30th October, the colour is somewhere between Java and Emerald Green, and I suppose is someone’s idea of what British Racing Green should look like. I knew it has been repainted and not that well so that was fine. The interior was certainly not original and was a tan colour.
At first impressions I can see that the car seems to be riding high, especially at the front, and that the tyres on this car are very large, they are in fact 195/75-R15 which I am sure is bigger than the tyres fitted originally. But I like the look.
The car drives horribly, it is noisy with awful brakes and the steering is slow to respond. But I am sure this is a case of worn out bushes and lack of use and can be easily remedied.
The next thing to do is get it on the ramp for an initial inspection and see what I have actually bought.
A 1972 Triumph tr6 restoration story 